>On July 10, five Penn State University students from >Redirection 2000 were arrested. They refused police orders >to stop protesting outside the "Taste of Pennsylvania" >program put on for the governors by their host, >Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge. > >Ridge has signed 205 death warrants since becoming >governor, including two for Abu-Jamal. He's executed three >people so far. --Greg Butterfield > > - END - > >(Copyleft Workers World Service. Everyone is permitted to >copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but >changing it is not allowed. For more information contact >Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: >[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message >to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) > > >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2000 23:11:43 -0400 >Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII >Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT >Subject: [WW] Sankofa Execution Haunts Bush >Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the July 20, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >SANKOFA EXECUTION HAUNTS BUSH: WWP CANDIDATE >MOOREHEAD CONFRONTS GOV. DEATH > >By Greg Butterfield > >Eighteen days after the execution of Shaka Sankofa/Gary >Graham, five Black activists disrupted Texas Gov. George W. >Bush's speech at the NAACP national convention in Baltimore >July 10. > >Workers World Party presidential candidate Monica >Moorehead led the death-penalty foes that challenged Bush. > >She was joined by Larry Holmes, a leader of WWP and >Millions for Mumia/International Action Center; Imani >Henry, a coordinator of the lesbian/gay/bi/trans solidarity >group Rainbow Flags for Mumia; and Qausu Thwaites and >Rachel Leiner, two Antioch College activists. > >"Remember Gary Graham," they chanted. "Bush executed an >innocent man!" > >Some NAACP delegates stood and applauded them. Others >shouted their agreement. > >Bush stood on the platform, nervously pursing his lips and >waiting for security guards to remove the protesters. > >The activists held their ground for several minutes in >front of the media cameras. They waved signs reading: "Gary >Graham, lynched for the crime of being Black," and, "We >remember Gary's last words: Abolish the racist death >penalty." > >Finally the group was hustled out by security guards. >Holmes continued to chant as he was carried out headfirst. > >None of the protesters were injured or arrested. Bush went >ahead with his speech. > >It was a wake up call to the audience--and the world. > >Bush, the Republican presidential candidate, was courting >Black voters at the civil-rights group's meeting. > >The protest was a reminder that Bush is a butcher who runs >one of the country's most brutal and racist death rows, the >protesters said. > >"Bush does not have the right to be running for any office >in this country, much less president," socialist candidate >Moorehead told Workers World. "He's guilty of mass murder. > >"Al Gore's another supporter of legal lynching," she >added, "and he'd better get ready, because we're coming >after him too." > >The International Action Center's Justice for Gary Graham >Campaign organized the action on a day's notice, she said. > >After the protest, the NAACP released a statement calling >Sankofa/Graham's execution a "gross miscarriage of >justice." The group called for a national moratorium on >executions. > >"The NAACP was forced to take a stand on this issue," >Moorehead said. "Because of what we did, a lot of the >delegates had to think long and hard about what Bush did >and how he had the power to stop that execution. > >"There was a lot of sympathy for what we were doing from >the delegates," she told WW. > >HOUNDING `GOV. DEATH' > >African Americans are 12 percent of Texas's population. >But Black people account for 41 percent of death-row >inmates there. > >Since 1995 Gov. Bush has presided over 138 executions. He >claims that no innocent person has been executed. > >But Sankofa/Graham's supporters say Bush's decision to >lethally inject the prisoner June 22 proves him a liar. > >"For a month before the execution, every major newspaper, >magazine and television network reported to millions of >people that the evidence pointing in favor of Gary Graham's >innocence was the strongest in any death penalty case in >recent memory," Holmes said. > >"But two weeks after the most publicized, scandalous >execution in recent history, the media and politicians have >stopped talking about Gary Graham, as if all the far- >ranging and deeply troubling consequences of his execution >were buried with him." > >Moorehead added: "Shaka's last words called on us to end >the racist death penalty by any means necessary. > >"We heed that message. Everywhere that George Bush raises >his head, we'll be there to get in his face. > >"We also believe that keeping Shaka's case in the public >eye will help Mumia Abu-Jamal," the political activist on >death row in Pennsylvania. > >"Like Shaka, all the evidence in Mumia's case points to >his innocence in the 1981 killing of a police officer," >Moorehead said. > >The protest succeeded in putting Sankofa/Graham's case >back in the news. Within minutes major news Web sites >carried the headline, "Bush speech marred by protesters." >The next day newspapers worldwide carried the story. > >C-SPAN cable network showed the disruption live. ABC, CNN >and NBC television networks also reported it. > >`SUMMER OF RESISTANCE' UNDERWAY > >Holmes said the Baltimore action was part of the "summer >of resistance" by the movement to end the death penalty, >abolish the prison-industrial complex and win a new trial >for Mumia Abu-Jamal. > >Mass protests for those demands are scheduled at the >Republican and Democratic conventions later this summer. > >"A key to the summer of resistance is to remember Gary >Graham," said Holmes. "He has become the most prominent >face of the women and men on death row." > >The cases of Sankofa/Graham and Abu-Jamal were prominent >during three days of protests at the National Governors >Association meeting in State College, Pa. > >On July 9, some 14 people chained themselves together and >blocked a highway leading to the governors' meeting to >protest the death penalty. They and another supporter were >arrested. > >In Washington, Martha Barnett, the incoming president of >the American Bar Association, announced July 10 that >winning a national moratorium on executions would be a top >priority for the 400,000-member lawyers' group. > >"I am putting together a call to action on the >implementation of a moratorium on the death penalty," she >told a news conference, adding that she would organize a >national conference on the death penalty in Atlanta in >October. (Reuters, June 10) > >GARZA WINS EXECUTION DELAY > >On July 7 President Bill Clinton officially delayed the >scheduled Aug. 5 execution of Juan Raul Garza. Garza would >have been the first federal death-row prisoner executed in >37 years. > >An outcry by Latino and Black groups forced Clinton, a >supporter of legal lynching, to delay the execution. > >Leaders of the National Council of La Raza expressed >outrage when they learned of the disproportionate number of >Black and Latino people on federal death row. > >Seventeen of the 21 federal death-row inmates--over 80 >percent--are people of color. > >Garza, a migrant farm worker from Texas, wants to raise >the issue of racism in the application of the death >penalty. He plans to ask Clinton for clemency based on the >blatant discrimination in sentencing. > >But Garza's lawyers discovered there were no guidelines >for a federal death-row prisoner to appeal for clemency-- >even though it's a Constitutionally guaranteed right. > >Garza's reprieve is expected to last at least 90 days, >until clemency guidelines can be put in place. > >The Democratic presidential candidate, Al Gore, says he >supports Clinton's decision to delay the execution. But >Gore again said he did not support a moratorium on >executions. > >`WORKING-CLASS DEBATE' > >"We need to expose that Bush, Al Gore and Pat Buchanan are >pro-death penalty," Monica Moorehead explained, "and that >Ralph Nader, who is supposed to be a progressive >alternative, has been silent about Shaka Sankofa's >execution and the death penalty in general. > >"Our militant socialist election campaign is aimed at >putting the issue of the death penalty and the struggle >against racist repression back into the presidential >debate," she told WW. > >"Having disruptions and demonstrations is the best way to >debate this issue," Moorehead said. "This takes it out of >the realm of traditional capitalist politics and into the >streets, the real arena of working-class struggle. > >"That's why my running mate, Gloria La Riva, and I are >devoting our efforts to organizing for the biggest possible >turnout at the Republican and Democratic convention >protests." > >She said, "Workers World Party's election campaign is the >only one whose candidates have taken an active leadership >role in fighting the racist death penalty. > >"We want to show that the only way to win real justice and >equality is to organize and fight for it. > >"You have to be bold and active in the struggle, not just >stand on the sidelines," Moorehead concluded. > > - END - > >(Copyleft Workers World Service. Everyone is permitted to >copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but >changing it is not allowed. For more information contact >Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: >[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message >to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) > > >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2000 23:11:42 -0400 >Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII >Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT >Subject: [WW] Racist Murder at Dearborn, Mich. Mall >Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the July 20, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >DEARBORN, MICH.: THOUSANDS PROTEST RACIST MURDER AT >MALL > >By David Sole >Detroit > >An outraged crowd of over 7,000 Detroiters gathered >outside the Lord & Taylor store at Fairlane Mall in >suburban Dearborn on July 5 to protest the killing of an >African American man in the store parking lot late last >month. The incident has unleashed tremendous anger built up >over many years of racist harassment and brutality at the >shopping center and other places in Dearborn. > >On June 22, Frederick Finley and his family were accosted >by several Lord & Taylor security guards in the parking lot >outside the store. The guards grabbed Finley's 11-year-old >daughter, accusing her of shoplifting a $4 bracelet. When >Finley tried to argue, the guards assaulted him, wrestled >him to the ground and strangled him. One guard reportedly >had his knee on Finley's throat. > >Finley died at the scene, killed in front of his horrified >family. > >Detroit community and religious leaders joined together to >call the July 5 protest. Local African American radio >personalities broadcast the call to action for days. > >By 6 p.m. the parking lot where Finley was killed was >packed with thousands of people. Many came after work. >Entire families took part. A large number of those gathered >were young people for whom this might have been their first >political protest. > >Shortly after the rally began, Dearborn police blockaded >the roads leading into the mall, keeping thousands of other >protesters from attending the event. > >The crowd was overwhelmingly African American. Many nodded >as the speakers recounted how Dearborn police and Fairlane >Mall staff had been "profiling" and targeting African >Americans throughout the years. > >Horace Sheffield III chaired the rally. He denounced Lord >& Taylor. "Instead of handing out gift certificates, they >gave out a death certificate." Detroit Congressperson John >Conyers Jr. and activists Dick Gregory and the Rev. Al >Sharpton took part in the rally, along with local >chairpersons of the NAACP, Southern Christian Leadership >Conference and Detroit City Council members. > >The Finley family was also present, along with their >attorney. They have filed a $600 million suit in the case. > >Speakers announced plans for a boycott of the Fairlane >Mall and Lord & Taylor stores nationally. > >Protesters are planning a follow-up action at the Detroit >Federal Courthouse at noon on July 17. > > - END - > >(Copyleft Workers World Service. Everyone is permitted to >copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but >changing it is not allowed. For more information contact >Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: >[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message >to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) > > __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi ___________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe/unsubscribe messages mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________
